Surprises

Husband and I love to plan surprises for each other, but we plan them very differently. I plan out surprises months in advance and am so excited that I tell him all about it, or even give it to him, before the special occasion. I have no self-control. Husband plans out his surprises and never ever even hints that he has devised anything at all, and then BAM, surprises me with the world’s best most unexpected surprise.

He told me a few months ago that he would plan something for our anniversary and I could plan something for Valentine’s Day. I bought him something he desperately needed, a new camera strap, and planned a romantic dinner out for two..which I told him about the second I booked a reservation.

I bought Husband a camera a few years ago, right before a trip to Japan. While traveling he realized he really needed a strap, but did not want to buy one. One day, while entering Tokyo Disneyland he found a bright sequined scrunchie, picked it up, attached it to his camera with a hair-band, and he has been using that as a camera strap ever since. Husband could care less that he looks ridiculous, he is just happy to have a free camera strap that has lasted him almost 3 years.

For Valentine’s I bought him a nice new innovative strap that I found on Kickstarter from a cool company called Peak Design. He was a little sentimental about saying good-bye to his dependable scrunchie, but he is thrilled to have a real camera strap that won’t garner stares from strangers.

We had dinner at Crudo, a romantic Italian restaurant in Little Italy that offered a vegetarian and non-vegetarian prix fixe menu. Like most NYC restaurants, it was small, cozy, and candlelit.

I was happy just to get dressed up and go out on a real date. Not that I don’t love our nights inside watching Walking Dead marathons…that’s probably my favorite kind of night.

The next night Husband tells me to pack a suitcase. At first I was a little concerned…Are you kicking me out? Is this because I threw out your scrunchie? Turns out he had planned a surprise trip for our 8-year dating anniversary! Within ten minutes I went from SUPER duper crazy excited to highly anxious freak-out mode.

What should I pack? How many days? What’s the weather? Are you taking me to a psych ward? Are we flying? Do I need my passport? Swimsuit? Coat? Boots? Flip-flops? Laptop? Nook? Raincoat? Camera? Snacks? Medicine? Heels? What about Belle? What about work?

I couldn’t stand not knowing. I am a planner! He refused to answer half of my questions so I threatened to serenade him with Adele songs until he tells me the surprise. After singing all of Someone Like You as loud as possible and missing every single note, he told me he is never surprising me again…

As soon as I saw “Los Angeles” I knew we were going to Disneyland!!!! I could not have been more excited! After a 6 hour flight, we arrived to the most comfortable Disney hotel room I’ve ever stayed in, special Disney pins and Mickey balloons. And the weekend just kept getting better….